oooo I love how it looks like a worksheet and I’m tempted to print it o.o

But, yeah, these things are always in the back of my head. I know my stories SHOULD have them, but once I get caught up in writing they fly out my head.

But, I was taking Play Writing this semester and I learned a harsh lesson: Play Writing is NOT fiction writing

On the surface I knew that, but my professor tried to drill it into us – but for some reason it wouldn’t take with me – that in plays the CONFLICT must be external. While I had one definition of CONFLICT (basically what you mentioned above) he wanted only external, physical conflicts….I kept drifting to internal conflicts..you know, the kinda that you can’t SEE on a STAGE >_<

Great post Sooz! I LOVED the way you used Charlie’s quest to enter the chocolate factory as a seemingly “low goal” (after all, the stakes aren’t life and death!) and showed how GMC can really heighten the tension. Thanks for such a helpful post! 🙂

This is an awesome post! And it mentions Hamlet:P I read your blog post first so it’s kind of a cool coincidence. This will actually help my current short story. Hmmmm.
I liked Hamlet…once it was explained to me.

I know about this quite well. I’ve spent most of my time in writing studying screenwriting, and a big mantra in screenwriting is that good characters bring the conflict. Since you need conflict to make a story, and since stories need characters, the natural progression is that your characters need conflict. Of course, I’ve read it stated a million different ways, and while I understood the concept, I had that “Aha!” moment when I read it the way you wrote it. Very nice, the way you’ve put it! Thank you!

Hmm, there are so many great ones out there, but my two personal favorites are ‘The Screenwriter’s Bible’ by David Trottier and ‘Save the Cat’ by Blake Snyder. These two are the ones I refer back to the most. Although, most everyone in the business recommends Syd Field’s books, I find them kind of dry to read. His DVD is phenomenal though. Oh, and ‘Making a Good Script Great’ by Linda Seger is another excellent resource.

Hi Susan!
Thanks for this article! I know that the heart of every novel is its conflict, but this helped break it down into smaller, manageable chunks that explain why the conflict even exists. My only question is, can there be multiple GMCs for a character? Or is the fact that multiple GMCs (ie more than one of each external and internal) exist a warning bell that the conflict isn’t clear or streamlined enough? Certainly massive books/series like Harry Potter have multiple internal and external GMCs, but it seems like for a freestanding novel that not being able to condense your GMCs down to one internal and one external seems like a recipe for a big ole pile of mess and some tough plot-cutting decisions during rewrites.

I think there can be multiple GMCs, but like you say — there can be too much!

In longer stories, the GMC can be constantly changing or even be made up of small blocks of GMC.

Example: Dorothy’s main external goal is to get home. But in each scene, she has a smaller external goal (follow the yellow brick road, get the witch’s broom, etc.).

There can also be internal GMCs, but I think it’s very important here to not have too many! Long stories (like you say) are more conducive to multiple GMCs, but stand alone novels really need to be more “simple”. Of course, a single goal can be multifaceted (wanting to be loved can be expressed in so many ways, for example).

Example: Dorothy wants to find out what will make her happy, and this is really her driving internal goal. She shows this desire in different ways, and it affects her emotional journey in different ways as she develops, but the main goal is the same throughout.

Example: In more complex stories (like Harry Potter), we see a main character who wants to find a place where he belongs but who also wants closure for his parents’ deaths. As the books progress and his character evolves, his own GMC develops.

Makes sense to me! I think that perhaps for a query you HAVE to condense/summarize/prioritize it into one internal and one external GMC or else you end up looking like you don’t even know what’s at the heart of your own novel – even if in your novel there are multiple conflicts with varying durations and overall importance. And if you can’t come down to one prevailing internal and external GMC, maybe it’s worth investigating why that is.

I’m super duper slow at catching up on all your helpful posts, but I just wrote out all my GMCs and taped them to my wall while I’m doing revisions. I know it’ll help keep me on track and pick out the scenes that are just nonsense filler (which sadly are in higher quantity than I’d like). Rock on!

[…] let’s focus on conflict. I’ve seen the term GMC bandied about a lot, so I googled it. I found this wonderful blog post on what it is and some great examples. I honestly don’t know if it’s going to help, but it gave me an aha moment. On what I […]

[…] and a few quick character worksheets. If you’re feeling a little more ambitious you might add goal, motivation, and conflict outlines for your characters, and sketch out some of the plot. If you have more time and a higher comfort […]